Psychotomimetic Drugs in Man

Abstract

Few drugs have had more scientific or social impact than the psychotomimetics. Few have been so peculiarly potent in their actions and so uniquely active in humans. While we may surmise that animals may be thinking strangely or perceiving erroneously or having marked alterations in mood, only man’s symbolizing ability lets us know for certain the degree to which relatively small amounts of psychotomimetics may profoundly alter mental functions. Therefore it would appear to be worth considering the pharmacology of these drugs in humans to see if we can grasp a few elusive clues concerning its mode of action.

Siegel, M., 1965, A sensitive method for the detection of N,N-dimethylserotonin (Bufotenin) in urine: Failure to demonstrate its presence in the urine of schizophrenic and normal subjects, J. Psychiat. Res.3:205–211.PubMedGoogle Scholar

Takashina, K., 1960, Physiological studies of visual symptoms due to the effects of hallucinogenic agent LSD-25 on the critical fusion frequency of flicker, the electric flicker threshold, and the intensity threshold for light, Psychiat. Neurol.62:1745.Google Scholar